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"Stuff"


jrgpots

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Through the winter million of tumble weed roll through my back yard. This spring I got a new 55 gal barrel and burn a few thousand tumble weeds that dared into my back yard. Yesterday I cleaned out the barrel, screened the ash, and now have 2.5 quarts of dried tumble weed ash for my next ash glaze. As I labeled the container, I wondered if anyone else has any strange jars of stuff ready to add to their next batch of glaze.

 

 

So, which one of you has collected the strangest "stuff" to go into a glaze, clay body, or whatever..... I thought tumbleweed ash was a bit strange... Does that mean I hooked on pottery or just off center a bit? Let's heaar what "stuff" others have collected or added?

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animal ash-cherry wood ash-copper metal shavings-road kill bags of dry materials

Seems all normal to me?

Mark

 

 

 

road kill bags................OK, you have the lead so far. By-the-way. if anyone want tumbleweed ash. I'm taking orders for this year's crop. Harvesting starts around October and really never ends.

 

Jed

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Through the winter million of tumble weed roll through my back yard. This spring I got a new 55 gal barrel and burn a few thousand tumble weeds that dared into my back yard. Yesterday I cleaned out the barrel, screened the ash, and now have 2.5 quarts of dried tumble weed ash for my next ash glaze. As I labeled the container, I wondered if anyone else has any strange jars of stuff ready to add to their next batch of glaze.

 

 

So, which one of you has collected the strangest "stuff" to go into a glaze, clay body, or whatever..... I thought tumbleweed ash was a bit strange... Does that mean I hooked on pottery or just off center a bit? Let's heaar what "stuff" others have collected or added?

 

 

Not in a glaze but to form a glaze during firing: deer livers, moth balls (the chemical, not from the insects--which would be unkind), dog food (lots of copper in it), lawn clippings (forms a white glaze where very thick), llama poop....

 

Jim

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I use the clay from the flood plain. I collected a bunch from the "flood of the century in 1997" We had had several huge floods since then. I guess it was safe to call it the flood of the century, since the century was almost over. The clay looks like Albany slip.

I haven't collected any moth balls as I guess you would need tiny tweezers. You are right Jim. It would probably be unkind.

TJR.

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if anyone want tumbleweed ash. I'm taking orders for this year's crop. Harvesting starts around October and really never ends.

 

Jed

 

 

Do not start this! Otherwise next thing we hear is that Jim is selling the lama poop and dear livers! biggrin.gif

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Through the winter million of tumble weed roll through my back yard. This spring I got a new 55 gal barrel and burn a few thousand tumble weeds that dared into my back yard. Yesterday I cleaned out the barrel, screened the ash, and now have 2.5 quarts of dried tumble weed ash for my next ash glaze. As I labeled the container, I wondered if anyone else has any strange jars of stuff ready to add to their next batch of glaze.

 

 

So, which one of you has collected the strangest "stuff" to go into a glaze, clay body, or whatever..... I thought tumbleweed ash was a bit strange... Does that mean I hooked on pottery or just off center a bit? Let's heaar what "stuff" others have collected or added?

 

 

I collected material from the iridium layer at an exposed site of the K/T boundary ( the big asteroid that killed the dinosaurs). I made a glaze out of it for mugs I made for some of my geologist friends.

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I collected material from the iridium layer at an exposed site of the K/T boundary ( the big asteroid that killed the dinosaurs). I made a glaze out of it for mugs I made for some of my geologist friends.

 

 

Interesting. What did you collect in that layer? How much and how did it turn out?

 

Jim

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... dog food (lots of copper in it) ...

 

Jim

 

 

Just noticed that. Great! I feel better now. If so far we were under the radar of NSA for the key words "weed", "pot",

now we are all under the category "harmless nuts".

 

 

 

So you're saying that if I were to post about how I "got rid of" the tumble "weed" by stuffing them into a big metal drum in the back, so I can glaze o cool "pot", I might have more "people" following my tread about the "Stuff?" I always thought I had to come up with interesting topics...........huh......And to have that tread talk about extinction, Iridium, and ash as well. We are all going to be busted.....

 

Jed

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animal ash-cherry wood ash-copper metal shavings-road kill bags of dry materials

Seems all normal to me?

Mark

 

 

 

road kill bags................OK, you have the lead so far. By-the-way. if anyone want tumbleweed ash. I'm taking orders for this year's crop. Harvesting starts around October and really never ends.

 

Jed

 

 

I drive a lot to Az/Colorado/Nevada shows and the like over the past 25-30 years . Its about a two day drive-I go by lots of mines and trucks which at time spill loads of stuff.

The borax mine in the mohave for one-so over the years I have stopped and picked up more than a few bags of unknown stuff spilled off big rigs and always try it in a glaze fire for a test.

Hence road kill bags. Yet to find a bag full of $

A few times I can identify the bag first.

Mark

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animal ash-cherry wood ash-copper metal shavings-road kill bags of dry materials

Seems all normal to me?

Mark

 

 

 

road kill bags................OK, you have the lead so far. By-the-way. if anyone want tumbleweed ash. I'm taking orders for this year's crop. Harvesting starts around October and really never ends.

 

Jed

 

 

 

Totally, who doesn't need tumbleweed ash. E-mail with order information, or I can email you. You can reach me at darrelspottery@gmail.com.

 

Darrel

 

 

 

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animal ash-cherry wood ash-copper metal shavings-road kill bags of dry materials

Seems all normal to me?

Mark

 

 

 

road kill bags................OK, you have the lead so far. By-the-way. if anyone want tumbleweed ash. I'm taking orders for this year's crop. Harvesting starts around October and really never ends.

 

Jed

 

 

I drive a lot to Az/Colorado/Nevada shows and the like over the past 25-30 years . Its about a two day drive-I go by lots of mines and trucks which at time spill loads of stuff.

The borax mine in the mohave for one-so over the years I have stopped and picked up more than a few bags of unknown stuff spilled off big rigs and always try it in a glaze fire for a test.

Hence road kill bags. Yet to find a bag full of $

A few times I can identify the bag first.

Mark

 

 

My grandfather was a rock hound. You don't know how many bags of rocks, dust, etc. we collected along the side of the roads...

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I collected material from the iridium layer at an exposed site of the K/T boundary ( the big asteroid that killed the dinosaurs). I made a glaze out of it for mugs I made for some of my geologist friends.

 

 

Interesting. What did you collect in that layer? How much and how did it turn out?

 

Jim

 

 

The iridium layer occurs between two layers of "mudstone" clay. The layer itself has a strong clay content but also is much different than either the layer above or below. The layer itself is only about half an inch in thickness and is much lighter in color than the clay layers above and below. It was easy to grind wet in a mortar and pestle to get the clay out.

 

It acts like ball clay and it was easy to incorporate it into a glaze. It produced a pretty bland looking clear glaze, so I added some RIO to spice it up a bit.

 

I also harvested both of the layers above and below the K/T layer as well as he layer itself. I glazed the mugs so that they had all three layers as they appeared in the geological formation.

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I also harvested both of the layers above and below the K/T layer as well as he layer itself. I glazed the mugs so that they had all three layers as they appeared in the geological formation.

 

 

What a great idea. I love it.

 

Jim

 

 

That is indeed awesome.

 

You don't have any pictures of the mugs do you?

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I've never tried this, but my high school art teacher told me a story about how he, or those he knew used urine on their ceramic items. I don't recall the specifics, but I want to say, that they urinated directly on the hot wares, which makes me think, it was part of a "Raku-Like" process, as I imagine that urinating into a hot kiln, is both difficult and ill-advised. I don't know how factual the story is, as my high school teacher had many a story. They were very entertaining anyway.

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I also harvested both of the layers above and below the K/T layer as well as he layer itself. I glazed the mugs so that they had all three layers as they appeared in the geological formation.

 

 

What a great idea. I love it.

 

Jim

 

 

That is indeed awesome.

 

You don't have any pictures of the mugs do you?

 

 

I tried to keep it as close to the real thing so they don't look like much, but I'll take a picture and upload it along with a picture of the K/T formation I dug the clay from

 

I only dug out a few ounces of each, because the exposure is not very big. Even so I felt a little guilty... kind of like picking up a small piece of petrified wood at Petrified Forest National Monument.

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I also harvested both of the layers above and below the K/T layer as well as he layer itself. I glazed the mugs so that they had all three layers as they appeared in the geological formation.

 

 

What a great idea. I love it.

 

Jim

 

 

That is indeed awesome.

 

You don't have any pictures of the mugs do you?

 

 

I tried to keep it as close to the real thing so they don't look like much, but I'll take a picture and upload it along with a picture of the K/T formation I dug the clay from

 

I only dug out a few ounces of each, because the exposure is not very big. Even so I felt a little guilty... kind of like picking up a small piece of petrified wood at Petrified Forest National Monument.

 

 

My brother found a fantastic, somewhat rare, arrowhead in The Badlands, South Dakota. He debated, whether or not to take it.

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I've never tried this, but my high school art teacher told me a story about how he, or those he knew used urine on their ceramic items. I don't recall the specifics, but I want to say, that they urinated directly on the hot wares, which makes me think, it was part of a "Raku-Like" process, as I imagine that urinating into a hot kiln, is both difficult and ill-advised. I don't know how factual the story is, as my high school teacher had many a story. They were very entertaining anyway.

 

 

Maybe this is what he meant?

 

The old story when i was a kid

was that the japanese master potters would pee

in their clay...to fertilize it before storage. it would make

the clay grow during ageing.

 

kids loved that story...and would talk about doing it

in the old clay buckets at school...so i mixed a big jug

of a mixture of ammonia and vinegar/ sorta a pee

substitute....and you know.........i think it works...i still

use it all the time....35 years and i still fertilize my

stored, recycled clay...

Well, have to realize that the ammonia and vinegar do not substitute the urine. Urine does have some ammonia, though. I can imagine the smell of his studio, too.

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I've never tried this, but my high school art teacher told me a story about how he, or those he knew used urine on their ceramic items. I don't recall the specifics, but I want to say, that they urinated directly on the hot wares, which makes me think, it was part of a "Raku-Like" process, as I imagine that urinating into a hot kiln, is both difficult and ill-advised. I don't know how factual the story is, as my high school teacher had many a story. They were very entertaining anyway.

 

 

Maybe this is what he meant?

 

The old story when i was a kid

was that the japanese master potters would pee

in their clay...to fertilize it before storage. it would make

the clay grow during ageing.

 

kids loved that story...and would talk about doing it

in the old clay buckets at school...so i mixed a big jug

of a mixture of ammonia and vinegar/ sorta a pee

substitute....and you know.........i think it works...i still

use it all the time....35 years and i still fertilize my

stored, recycled clay...

Well, have to realize that the ammonia and vinegar do not substitute the urine. Urine does have some ammonia, though. I can imagine the smell of his studio, too.

 

 

 

Hmmm, he may have meant that, but I swear he said "Pots", not just "clay".

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